284 



From the typical specimens of this species, which Westring 

 kindly sent me, I find that he is right in his opinion (Aran. Suec, 

 p. 486) that L. nigriceps Thor. is not different from his L. saccigera. 

 The spider described by me (loc. cit.) as female to L. saccigera 

 Westr. is only a variety of L. palustris or tarsalis, distinguished by 

 an unusually broad central band on the cephalothorax. — Cambridge 

 has had the kindness to send me English specimens of his L. con- 

 gener; according to an obliging communication of Simon, that spe- 

 cies is common in the neighbourhood of Paris. 



I cannot think, that this species is, as Westring supposes, 

 identical with L saccigera Walck. (Ins. Apt., I, p. 327); L. monti- 

 cola Walck., on the contrary, is with great probability referable to 

 the species before us , at least ad partem , for of that species Walcke- 

 naer says (loc. cit, p. 329): "elle differe [de la L. saccigera'] par des 

 couleurs moins sombres dans la femelle, et ses pattes ne sont pas an- 

 nele'es comme dans la Saecigere? Westring s species here before US 

 is distinguished from L. monticola (Clerck), L. palustris (Linn.) etc., 

 by its legs being usually of one colour, not (only now and then 

 slightly) marked with dark rings. Walckenaer's L. saccigera is prob- 

 ably the same as L. palustris or tarsalis, but possibly may also in- 

 clude other species, as L. monticola and agrestis; at any rate it ap- 

 pears best, at least for the present, to drop the name saccigera. 



L. nigriceps has probably by others as well as Walckenaer 

 been mistaken for or confounded with L. monticola (Clerck) and L. 

 palustris (tarsalis); thus, as Westring has already remarked, the 

 spider figured by C. Koch in Die Arachn., XV, Tab. DXV, fig. 1445 

 as 3 of L. monticola, appears rather to belong to L. nigriceps than 

 either to L. palustris (tarsalis) or L. monticola. 



Of the two synonyms given by Walckenaer loc. cit. under his 

 T,. monticola, Araneus amentatus Clerck is totally different from L. 

 nigriceps, but L. monticola C. Koch may possibly ad partem be iden- 

 with that spider. On this subject see more farther on under the 

 head of Westring's L. tarsalis. 



L. nigriceps cannot be considered as belonging to the "L. mon- 

 ^'coZa-group", from which it is distinguished by the form of its 

 organs of copulation. The spine under the male's bulbus geni- 

 talis is in fact rather slender, regularly tapering to a point, bent 

 somewhat outwards, directed forwards and a little outwards. The 

 vulva forms an area broader behind, but slightly raised, longer 

 than in the species of the L. monticola- group , and the sculpture of 



